Izhmayel blinked astounded. "What? When yer Gate opens she'll be gone an' less of a threat...It should be openin' soon, right?"

"Yes, but she still attracts the Shadows...And since you've made it here alive, you must know that this place is already drowning in the dark essence," she exclaimed. The girl drew back her arrow a bit more, ready to unleash it at any moment.

"Wait! Wait!" A ragged little girl about six years old ran up to the leader.

"What?" the older girl asked impatiently.

"The man –huff– saved me –huff– with them!" the little girl explained between breaths.

"Kara! I don't have time for your stupid stories. You were hallucinating!"

"No, I wasn't! NO!!" the little girl Kara screamed as the elder girl let the arrow loose.

Izhmayel felt like time had slowed down. He saw the arrow fly straight towards Lin, but his limbs would not move fast enough.

Suddenly, a dark blue blur swiped the arrow down with a quick flick of his blade. Izhmayel's mouth dropped open, for a split second he thought he had seen pure white wings underneath the dark blue cloak of the newcomer.

"See! I told you I wasn't hallucinating!" Kara said with pride. "He saved my life yesterday!" She looked over at Izhmayel and saw his bewildered look and smiled. "You saw them too, didn't you?!" She ran up to Izhmayel and stood on her tiptoes and urged him to lean down. When he finally did, she whispered in his ear, "He's an Angel!"

Lin blinked surprised. Everything had happened so fast. One moment she was standing with her eyes wide open, positive that the arrow would find its' mark buried deep inside her chest and the next she found the mysterious dark blue cloaked man standing in front of her holding an interesting looking sword in his hand with the arrow clattering to the ground in pieces.

Lin took a step closer to the man and stared at his sword. She had never seen anything like it before, but was certain it resembled something else she had seen. The blade looked to be made out of a crystal like material. The light of the lanterns lit it up like a dark diamond and silvery white etchings were scrawled all along the edge that reminded her of some type of runes. Before she could get a better look at them the man sheathed his sword.

He turned to look at the leader. The young girl had gone ghost white, she never expected anyone to be able to deflect an arrow like that before. She didn't even know where this man had come from. He had just appeared out of nowhere. His fair blue eyes were fixed on her and she could feel the weight of the wrath that was contained in them.

She collapsed to her knees and let her bow clatter to the ground. Kara ran over to her leader to help her then quickly turned around and looked at the man in the blue cloak with pleading eyes. "No, Mister Angel...please forgive her. She didn't mean to do that." The young leader nodded her head then burst out into tears.

Lin watched the man walked up to the two girls and put a hand on each of their heads. They both looked up at him and after a few seconds began to smile. The young leader started to wipe away her tears then stood up with Kara.

Izhmayel strolled up to the man and clapped him on the shoulder. "Yeah, we're with him." The man gave Izhmayel an irritated glare and he immediately let go. "Sooooo...uh 'bout the Gate...We good now?"

The young leader and Kara exchanged a look. The elder girl nodded then Kara spoke, "It doesn't work."

"What d' ya mean, it doesn't work?" Izhmayel asked.

"Well..." the older girl responded. "We're not sure...but something is definitely not right with it."

"It started a looong time ago. Telsa says it started right after I got here, but I don't remember." Kara explained, "There used to be some grown-ups and big kids here, but I've never seen one around, or I don't think I have. Telsa's the biggest kid here...so...she's the leader."

"We should talk inside..." Telsa said and picked up her bow then walked over to the rope bridge. Kara and a few of the other children raced across the bridge. The young girl waited at the other side, but the other kids ran off.

The rest of the group crossed the rope bridge and entered the cave. On the far side of the cave were several openings. More rope bridges extended from the cave openings and connected to some massive tree houses and then on to more caves. Lanterns were hung all around the cave on little pegs and their lights glittered off the small pool that was in the center of the floor. Off to the sides were small niches that looked cozy enough. They each had some chairs and a few beds, though most of them were empty.

Lin walked next to the cloaked man while Izhmayel ambled at the back of the group next to Kara. Telsa was in the front leading the party farther into the cave. Lin peeked over at the man next to her. Angel. That was what the little girl had said. What did she mean by it? Was he really an angel, or did the little girl just call him that because he had saved her?

Izhmayel glared at the back of the blue cloaked man. There certainly weren't any wings underneath that cloak now and no strange bumps or bulkiness either, but then again there was something definitely not quite right about him.

Izhmayel felt a tug on his shirt and looked down. The little girl urged him to lean down again. "They grow out of his back," Kara whispered, "I think they give him super speed." The man glanced back and Kara gasped and was quiet the rest of the way.

"So...umm...I...I'm sorry..." Telsa apologized. Everyone was sitting down on chairs that had been arranged in a circle. They were in one of the niches on the far side of the cave with a few of the other small resident villagers.

Lin smiled. "It's alright...it's all in the past, as long as you are sincere in your apology then, fine."

The young girl nodded.

"So, what's wrong with the Gate?" Izhmayel asked and leaned forward then put his hands on his knees.

"We...don't really know..." Telsa hesitated. "But something's not right. Maybe...maybe, you can help us! You're a Keeper, right?"

Izhmayel nodded slowly. "We don' really do much with the Gates...just guide the ones who come out of 'em, so I don't know if I'll be much help." He turned to the cloaked man and asked, "What 'bout yeh, know anythin' 'bout this?"

The blue cloaked man just shook his head.

"And ya?" Izhmayel turned to Lin.

Lin blinked. "How would I know? I–"

"Don't even know where ya are, yeah, yeah...of course yeh wouldn't know anythin'," Izhmayel interrupted. "But maybe we can help, though don't get yer hopes up...kuz I doubt we can." He turned back to the young leader and waited for her to continue her story.

"Well at first we noticed that less and less Travellers would show up," Telsa began. "Then the Shadows showed up, more and more. No one really goes outside the village grounds anymore because of them...they surround the whole village–"

"I did! I was gathering some berries. I thought I was okay," Kara exclaimed. "Kuz I was still on the grounds, I think. But I guess I wasn't kuz some of those shadow thingies came and almost ate me, but Mister Angel saved me!"

"Why do you call him that?" Lin asked suddenly and glanced from the little girl to the cloaked man. He quickly averted his eyes when Lin's gaze fell upon him.

"Because he IS! I saw–" Kara stopped talking. "...I'm sorry, Mister." She whispered then was silent for a long time. Everyone was quiet. They glanced from Kara to the blue cloaked man and then back again.

"It's alright," he said softly.

Lin froze. His voice, it was so familiar, that soft husky voice; she had heard it before, but where?

"Why're ya sorry? Anyone can tell that that man ain't exactly normal. So, are ya really one? An' why exactly are yeh followin' me and Miss Walker, anyways?" Izhmayel asked and turned to the man. "An' don't give me any of that 'Well, I just thought yeh might need some assistance' crap. Yeh know somethin' 'bout this Gate, or maybe even 'bout Miss Walker here...an' I think we 'ought to know."

The blue cloaked man sighed. "Does it really matter? I think finding out what is wrong and how to fix the Gate and protect the village that surrounds it is more important, don't you think?"

As much as Lin wanted to know more about the man and why he seemed so familiar, she agreed with him. And she was also pretty sure he was not about to disclose that information anytime soon. She nodded her head. "Let's see what's going on with this Gate..." She paused and glanced back over at the man. "And then we can worry about the other stuff."

Izhmayel grumbled, "Yeah, yeah, whatever..." He turned and gave the other man a nasty scowl. "But I'm warnin' yeh 'Angel'...Yeh'd better not drag us into a war."

Lin and the two other girls watched, with a bit of dreaded curiosity, as the two men glared at each other. After about a minute, Lin clapped her hands together. "Well then...umm...Telsa, Kara, continue with your stories."